Synthetic Biology: The "weapon" of Life Science

Synthetic biology uses the "bottom-up" concept of engineering to break the boundaries of "natural" and "unnatural", from systematically characterizing biological macromolecules with catalytic regulation and other functions in nature, making them standardized "components", to creating new biological components and cell "chassis" such as "modules" and "circuits" to build artificial living systems with various uses. This synthetic concept, which is contrary to the "top-down" analytical concept of systems biology, has also promoted the research strategy of "things to know" that we are accustomed to to a new height of "building things to know". In this way, the "guessed" ancestral species or molecular systems of evolution will be synthesized and interpreted in a targeted way. Complex life phenomena divided by various "hypotheses" and "controls" can also realize integrated quantitative research and analyze causal mechanisms.

Synthetic biology adopts the engineering research method of "design-synthesis-test", on the basis of learning abstract natural biological systems, or "reprogramming" natural biological systems, or re-designing artificial life systems with new characteristics; Then, using "gene editing" and "gene synthesis" and other "toolkits", using experimental methods to build, and then testing the constructed biological system, so repeated cycle optimization, forming a positive and reliable scientific closed loop. Synthetic biology on the basis of such a large-scale universal engineering platform is often referred to as "engineering biology", and its engineering ability to "build things to use" is expected to make new contributions to solving major problems such as health, energy, food, and the environment.

Solve resource and environmental problems

Empowering human health

At present, the global problems such as resource shortage, environmental pollution and climate change are becoming increasingly prominent, and synthetic biotechnology provides a new solution for the harmonious development of "social - ecological/environmental - economic".

Oil is a non-renewable resource with limited reserves, which will be exhausted sooner or later, which is a serious problem that human survival and development must deal with. In theory, the vast majority of petrochemicals can be made with the help of synthetic biology technology, and people can also make new fuels through biosynthesis technology that cannot be synthesized by traditional chemical industry. At the same time, synthetic biology has made progress in artificially sequestering carbon and using carbon dioxide. For example, by artificially optimizing and transforming bacteria, scientists can build "cell factories" that can convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into chemicals such as ketones, alcohols, and acids, so as to realize the efficient comprehensive utilization of carbon dioxide and other resources, and promote the establishment of a low-carbon economic model with low energy consumption, low pollution, and low emissions.

With the continuous growth of the global population, environmental pollution and climate change, human food and environmental security are facing great challenges. The use of synthetic biology technology to create cell factories suitable for the food industry to convert renewable raw materials into important food components is considered a viable way to solve food problems. In agricultural production, problems such as soil compaction and acidification caused by the large increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizer can be effectively solved by synthetic biology "microbial nitrogen fixation" technology. In the field of environmental governance, "customized" microorganisms can be used to remove organic pollutants that are difficult to degrade, and artificial microbial sensors can also be developed to help humans monitor the environment, and microorganisms that can identify and enrich heavy metal pollutants such as cadmium, mercury, and arsenic in soil or water can be designed to greatly improve the efficiency of pollution control.

Synthetic biology is also widely used in the field of life and health, not only for the production of pharmaceutical products such as natural products, but also for the development of disease research models, biomarker monitoring, stem cells and regenerative medicine. For example, there are rich and diverse microorganisms in the human gut, and synthetic biology provides tools for the modification of intestinal microbes. On the one hand, bacteria that are beneficial to the human body can be engineered to produce vitamins and other nutrients that the human body cannot synthesize by itself; On the other hand, "smart microbes" that sense changes in the gut environment can be designed to detect and diagnose health conditions in the human body.

In the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, synthetic biology technology has played an important role and shown strong application potential. For example, DNA barcoding technology is used to improve the sequencing process and gene editing technology is used to develop nucleic acid diagnostic reagents to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of diagnosis. The use of synthetic biology technology can also find potential small molecule drugs, the development of vaccines, and by regulating the human microbiome to activate the human immune system, improve the human antiviral ability.